There is reportedly good news in store for the US
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The International Monetary Fund is to raise its forecast for world economic growth in 2004 to 4.6%, Germany's Handelsblatt newspaper reports.
The new forecast to be published in April is a 0.6 percentage point increase on the IMF's autumn prediction, the financial daily says.
The Fund has also upped its estimate for US growth this year by 0.7% of a percentage point to 4.6%.
But the forecast for the euro zone remains unchanged at 1.9%.
IMF warnings
Next year, growth of the 12 nations that share the euro was likely to accelerate to 2.5%, the IMF predicts, says Handelsblatt.
However, its adds that the fund will warn that recovery could be affected by the development of the euro-dollar exchange rate and weak domestic demand.
For Japan, the paper also says the IMF now expects growth of 3.2% this year, 1.8 percentage points
more than its previous forecast, while for the UK it expects growth of 3.1%, an increase of 0.6 percentage point.
The forecast for Germany is being raised by 0.2 percentage point to 1.7%.
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